Blogs from Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 42

(This entry, Monday, is belated because my computer wasn't working all day, today...) An awesome, FUN night out on the town to follow up the rather boring day! We had international student orientation, forcing us to miss our Monday lectures, followed by a night out on the town. It was the "night of twos": two pubs, two nightclubs, two cute British boys, and two drinks. If you want more details (and some observations on English students at the end), read on… DAY (boring): Many of my friends and family know that I am not (at all) a morning person, so oversleeping this morning won’t come as a surprise to them. I had just enough time to shower and throw on some clothes before it was time to head down to “The Stripe” - which is the ... read more

It's been almost two days since my arrival, and I am loving this place already. Let me start at the beginning... Friday, February 2: My mom, sister and I drove to Fort to carpool to Chicago with Anna and her parents. We thought we'd be late, but of course we got to the airport several hours early. Checking in wasn't a problem...unless you count my 15-pounts-overweight luggage! I already knew I would have to pay the $50 fee, though, so it was OK. Much cheaper than shipping it all, I discovered when I called the post office. Besides, my beautiful hot-pink luggage (birthday present!) is heavy-duty and very heavy! Saying goodbye to Mom and Andrea got a little emotional - I hate goodbyes! I cried for this one, of course, but had also teared up when ... read more

So the big mission is finally here! After weeks of stressing and sorting things out, moving out of my house, QUITTING MY JOB , it is time to relax and enjoy the journey ahead. And a big thank you to everyone for my leaving drinky-poo on Thursday and Friday night, i had a wicked time on both eves and have put all the photos on my ipod to take away with me. I am rubbish at goodbyes and it didnt help when some of you turned on the water-works (you know who you are!). I just hope they were sad tears and not tears of joy! Im going to try and update this page with pictures of all the main stops on my trip, although i've just found out some of the islands i am going ... read more

It was really windy coming into Heathrow and the plane rolled all over the place, and we landed fast and hard. We got down to Southampton quickly by bus, and were met by an friend, Karry, who kindly drove us the rest of the way to New Milton. We spent the day at my Grans house, waiting to surprise Mum and Dad in the evening. Despite it being quite mild out, Gran had the fire lit and we were all very sleepy by the time Mum and Dad came round. I think we managed to surprise them nicely. It took a while for it to sink in that we were there! We stayed the night with Gran and moved up to Mum and Dads house last night. Today we are off into Southampton for some football ... read more

Finally it was Christmas! Vic’s mum came to England from Holland by ferry and picked us up to take us down to Hayling Island where we would celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Vic’s Godmother in her 15th century heritage listed cottage - nothing could be more English than that! I was so appreciative, as the girls adopted me as one of the family so I wasn’t alone for Christmas! We set off with a boot full of wine and seats stacked with gifts as we were watching Wendy to make sure she was driving on the right (well, left!) side of the road, giving me my first opportunity to see the real English country side. Arriving at Carol’s to a full house, Wendy had already arranged for us to stay in a near by ... read more